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About Me

You may recall Domino Magazine. They had a decorating contest and because of you, my dear readers, I won!
It was a HUGE honor and flattering and I got my 15 minutes of fame along with 10k!
I won for my bedroom renovation which I had planned for and saved for.....forever.

My name is Catherine (I am liking "Cat" right now) and I am still a full time lawyer in San Francisco and probably will be as long as I can because I got to pay for Pooh's college (see below). I became a lawyer because I was a very poor teacher, didn't know what to do next, was dating a lawyer so why not?

I dabble in redoing, designing, painting, fixing, anything creative or I would go nuts.

Lately I have been seriously considering selling everything, buying an RV and visiting every major and minor league ballpark in the country. Plus I would get to "redo " an RV. I would drink many martinis. I love baseball and kind of fancy myself an older version of Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham.

I have a daughter who is in college. She is known as "Pooh" (one of her childhood nick names) in this blog. I cannot give you her real name or your would immediately go to Facebook and see pictures of parties in my home I never knew about and other college escapades I do not want to know about. I love her to death. For 18 years I couldn't wait for her to leave home. Now I miss her to death.

In this blog you may hear about other things. I may be in a bad mood. I may be sarcastic (more likely then not). I may be sad, boring, ranting, amusing or just plain fabulous. I will misspeil words, not know a source, disappoint, leave out a link, and make many mistakes. Please forgive me in advance. I love "forgiveness in advance".

In case you have not noticed I am a COLOR freak. I soak it up and cannot get enough. Nothing can change your mood faster and bring you peace, excitement and loveliness like color.

And my advice for all you dear readers out there who want a change in their decor or want to create something is Just Do It and it doesn't have to be perfect. Yup, just like the Nike commercial. I can't think of a better way to say it. Corney I know.

First try just rearranging your stuff. Then find some fabric you love be it an from an old tablecloth, the salvation army, or a fancy designer. Hang it on the wall, frame it, glue it to a chair, sew a pillow case. Just do it and it doesn't have to be perfect.

Paint a wall, a piece of furniture, a frame, slap on some trim, glue up some molding, re-caulk the bathtub (not my favorite but you cannot believe the difference!). Just decide on one thing and just do it and it doesn't have to be perfect. Believe you me I have redone a redo more times then I remember.

DEDICATION"Just doing it" I learned from watching my mother (picture coming) who died when I was very young. I watched her paint and recover furniture, paint rooms, sew beautiful dresses and smock (are you kidding! who does smocking anymore), make fudge and take us kids all over the place by herself. She did not seem scared of anything and just did it. And this was in the 50s my friend!And this blog would not exist without my brilliant, beautiful, loving, hysterical, and fabulous niece (pictured above with her equally fabulous Boo). She started this blog (or it never would have happened), pulled me out of the doldrums many times and her insights are invaluable. I love her to death. (she is a shrink and go see her cause your life will change)

Hello Aanwee, thanks for stopping by. The light blue nubby linen fabric on the chaise is a fabric I picked from Mitchell Gold, the chaise manufacturer. However, many companies have similar fabric including calico corner, Duralee etc. All the paint colors were mixed by me. There are some 10 different blues in the room. I suggest getting some pale blue paints you like and cut them at least 1/2 with glaze and layer them on top of each other for a similar effect. The blue behind the bed is Interno Lime wash in the color Attic. See my post called Not Paint" for further info on that. Hope this helps. Cat

Thank You for coming by Vonnie and Becky. Vonnie, you are in Granada??? Love your textile work and pics of your view! Becky, yes I miss Domino and now buy British decor magazines which are closer to Domino that what we have left here.

Okay. I was all set to start on the eliptical and now this! Thanks for stopping by my blog (Nouveau Stitch) and leaving the trail of breadcrumbs back to this fabulousness! I can't even look at the room redo for Domino. I must devour it in nibbles. As for your two sisters (one of which who must be super-fantastic due to her love of "my boys") here in the Mitten State. Do they blog? If they don't and they have even a speck of your talent, they should!

OK! Just read this...I am a former lawyer, and had to laugh at the don't do it advice! I married a lawyer, now former lawyer as well! Great about me profile...goes well with your fabulous eye! Where were all you amazing design people in law school? Every month I must stumble across 5 esq. in design blogging now!:)

Anon: how fun! Mine did not come with a center shely but maybe you should use that color, possibly just on the top and the edges of the mirror? Anyway, take off hardware, light sand, prime with Zinnsar old based primer (just roll it one) the two coats of cream paint (I used cream) and 2 to 3 coats of high gloss poly. Let every coat dry for 24 hours before you put on another. I silver leafed the trim but you cld also use metalic spray paint. Cat

Oh My! Just have known about your room makeover on curbly.com and I must say it is completely amazing. I'm on some stuff with my bedroom too, but it's not going to look like yours never haha! I hope your blog inspire me a little bit more during these days.

Was passing time looking at pictures on the internet... when I stumbled on a picture of this cute room ! Skipped from website to website till I finally found the source, and I must say I love it - Wow! The little bits of color everywhere and the attention to detail, looks so delicate and light and open ....yet just lush!